Hermetic closure for receptacles.



W. A. LORENZ.

HERMETIC CLOSURE FOR RECEPTACLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-20.19]?- Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

Fi i? In men 250 r WZZZZQWZJZZQNWZZ 5y UNITED s'ran PAT GFTCEQ WILLIAM-A. LORENZ, OIE HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

HERMETIC CLOSURE FOR RECEPTAGLES.

To all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. LoRENz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hermetic Closures for Receptacles, of which the following is a specification.

It is common practice to loosely place caps, covers and other closures on cans, jars and similar receptacles containing food and food ingredients to be canned and preserved in prime condition, and then submit the receptacles to the action of a partialvacuum in the exhaust chamber of a hermetic sealing machine which withdraws the air from the interior of the receptacles past the closures and'so reduces the interior pressure that the normal atmospheric pressure subsequently exerted on the outside will seat the closures and hermetically seal the receptacles. Some of such closures have been designed to form the seal at the upper edges of the receptacles,

some to seal on the exterior and some toseal 1n the interior of the receptacles- The con struction of those closures which have been made to seal on the interior has been such that thewithdrawal of all of the airfrom the inside of the receptacles has been difficult and uncertain, that is, without the exercise of skill and-great care these closures would sometimes seat and close the receptacles before all of the air had been withdrawn from the interior, with the result that the closures ject of the invention is to provide an interior closure which is so designed that all of the atmosphere will surely be withdrawn from the interior of the receptacle by the exhausting apparatus, and the hermetic seal securely effected, without the exercise of great care and skill in making the closure and manipulating the apparatus.

Figure l of the accompanying drawings shows a section of the top of a jar with a cover and gasket Placed in the position occupied before the atmosphere is exhausted and the sealing effected. Fig. 2 is a similar Specification of Letters Patent.

view showing the cover and gasket in sealing position. Fig. 3 shows-an edge view of the cover with a part broken away. Fig. at shows an edge View of the gasket with a part broken away. Fig. 5 shows a plan of a iece of the gasket.

The receptacle 1 to be sealed, which can be any desired size and shape, may. be formed of glass, porcelain or other suitable material. Around the interior, a short distance below the mouth of the receptacle, is a narrow shoulder 2. This shoulder is desirably provided by curving inward the innerwall of the rim of the receptacle.

, Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

Application filed August 20, 1917. Serial No. 187,050.

The cover 3, which is somewhat smaller in diameter than the recess in the mouth of the receptacle above the shoulder, may be made of glass, porcelain or any other suitable material. Around the periphery near the inside face of the cover is a concaverecess 4:. Fitted in the concave recess about the cover is a flexible gasket 5. This gasket, which is des rably made of rubber composition, is shaped so that the outer, corner 6 of the inner face will be'thin or sharp and quite yielding. It-is preferred to form one or more shallow grooves 7 in the outer periphery of the gasket, and although these grooves may be of any desired outline, they preferably are narrow at the top and a little wider at the bottom.

In practice the receptacle is filled to, or near to, the shoulder with the substa ce to be preserved, then the cover with the yielding gasket fitted about it is placed loosely in the recess in the mouth of the receptacle. When the cover and gasket are thus located the sharp, thin, flexible edge of the outer corner of the gasket rests upon the rounded wall above the shoulder. as shown in Fig. 1. The receptacle, with others, closed in this manner is placed in the hermetic machine commonlv employed. and as the air is exhausted from the chamber of the machine the air is drawn out from the interior of the receptacle through the air-escape grooves formed in the periphery of the flexible gasket. After the proper degree of vacuum has been established the cover is pressed downwardlv so as to compress the gasket upon the sealin seat. Wh n the cap is forced down the flex ble gasket is so compressed bv the concave wall of the sealing wall of the recess so that during the exhausting operation air will draw out past the thin flexible supporting corner of the gasket, and aftersealing the flexible gasket fills all the space between the wall ofv the mouth of the receptacle and the edge ofthe cover. 7

A receptacle closed in the manner described may be opened by punching a hole in the cover, or inserting a sharp tool be tween the cap and the rim around the mouth of the receptacle so as to admit-air to the interior, or: bv prying-"the cover upwardly. The invention claimed 'is; v 1. The; eombin'ation tim receptacle'havin? a shoulder in theinteri'or arcane the wall near the matter the receptacle, of a cover havin 'a shoulder on the efzteri'or around the edge near the inner face 'of'tlie cover, and a gasket closely fittediaegain'st'the shoulder on the cover and having "flexible projectionson its outer edge that are adapted when the cover-"is loosely placed. in the mouth of the receptacle to "rest upon the shoulder in the interior and support the cover with spaces'between the gasket and the wall of the mouth of the receptacle un til pressure is applied to the outside of the cover. j I ,2". The combination with a receptacle having "an annular recess around the interior near. its mouth, of a cover having an "annular recess around its periphery, and a flexible gasket fitting the recess in th cover and provided with transverse grooves in its periphery and with a yielding corner adapt- I ed when the cover is loosely placed in the mouth of the receptacle to rest upon the wallet the recess in the receptacle. e, l

3. The combination with a receptacle havmg an annularrecess around the interior near its mouth, of cover having an annular recess around its periphery, and a flexibleg'asket fitting the recess in the cover and provided in its periphery with shallow transverse grooves that are narrow at the top and wider at the bottom and with a yieldingcorner adapted when the cover is loosely placed in the mouth of the receptacle to rest upon the wall of the recess in the receptacle.

The combination with a receptacle-having a concave recess around its interior, of a sev r, having, fa. concave recess around its periphery, and a 'flekiblegasket fittingthe recess in the to ersna provides with trans etssgreeves 1n its nter edge andfwitha yielding corner adapted I, when i the cover is eases placed in the'ni l thof the. eeeptaele to" restup'on the wall "otth'e eeneave recess ih t hegreceptacie 5'. rheeembmetieawith a receptacleh'av- ;an interior steamer around the wall its iihou'th, of a cover having a recess around its" periphery, and a flexible gasket fittingthe recess in the cover, said gasket eing provided with transverse g, oves in its periphery and adapted when'the cover is mostly-plead in the mouth of the receptacle to rest upon the shoulder near the mouth or the receptacle in such manner that the grooves are'y'open until pressure is applied to the ou'tsideof the icoyer. H

' WILLIAM A.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents ea'ch'fb'y addressing the Commissioner or Pete'nts, e Washington; D. (3. 'i 

